21st Century
Literacies - skills needed to flourish in today's society and in the future. This combination of information, multicultural, media, and visual literacies can better help K-12 students and adult learners address and solve the issues that confront them.
Accuracy - free from errors and mistakes
Authority - 1) A source of correct information and 2) an expert on a subject whose advice
or opinion is accepted
Boolean
Operators - the Boolean operators of "AND", "OR" and "NOT" [or "AND NOT"]
in online searching either narrow or expand the results of the search.
Brainstorming - an informal way of generating topics to write about, or points to make about
a topic. The important point about brainstorming is that there should be no
pressure to be "brilliant." Students should simply open their minds to whatever
pops into them. Think of it as a kind of free association.
Close-up - a Visual Literacy term for a shot or photograph vthat focuses in on details
and facial expressions but gives little or no context.
Copyright - the exclusive legal right to reproduce, publish, and sell the matter and form
(as a literary, musical, or artistic work) Merriam-Webster
Dictionary http://www.m-w.com/
Core/Supporting
Concepts - big ideas in units or lessons that are key to students understanding
the material. Knowing core concepts is at the heart of what you teach. This
allows you to determine what standards you address and what learning activities
you will provide to help students understand the core/supporting concepts.
Currency - how up-to-date an information source is.
Graphic
Organizers - tools to help students make sense of gathered information and
reflect on whether the information gathered is sufficient. See diagram at The
Graphic Organizer website http://www.graphic.org/goindex.html.
Information
Literacy - the abilities to recognize when information is needed and to
locate, evaluate, effectively use, and communicate information in its various
formats.
Inquiry-Based
Unit - unit of study geared toward the achievement of both subject and information
literacy objectives through exposure to and practice with diverse resources.
Intellectual
Property - reflects the idea that this subject matter is the product of the mind or the intellect, and that IP rights may be protected at law in the same way as any other form of property. Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_property
Layout - one method of evaluating a website. Is the website well organized? Is it easy
to find files and information? Is it easy to read? Is there consistency across
all the pages of the website?
Look -
one method of evaluating a website. Is there a specific look and feel to the
website? How are fonts, background colors and images used?
Long Shot - a Visual Literacy term for a shot or photo that shows the subject in relation
to the larger or overall context.
Media Elements - one method of evaluating a website. Are there graphics, sounds, and animation?
If so, are those features used to enhance the message?
Media Literacy - the ability to decode, analyze, evaluate, and produce communication in a variety
of forms.
Medium Shot - a Visual Literacy term for a shot or photo that shows the subject in relation
to the immediate context. Medium shots reveal relationships, be them person-to-person,
person-to-thing, person-to-a space.
Multicultural
Literacy - knowledge of cultures, languages, and the ways multi-sensory
data (text, sound, and graphics) can introduce bias in language, subject matter,
and visual content.
Navigation - one method of evaluating a website. Is it easy to get around? Is there a sitemap?
Are there different ways to navigate? Are icons and text used clearly to help
users find information?
Plagiarism - using others' ideas and words without clearly acknowledging the source of
that information. Indiana
University http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/plagiarism.shtml
Pocket Charts - clear plastic holders with several rows and columns of pockets. If pocket
charts are not a choice for a lesson, then poster tape can be affixed to the
back of each sentence strip so they can be mounted on the chalkboard
Point of View - bias of an information source, identified to better evaluate the accuracy
and usefulness of the information
Problem-based
Learning - a curriculum development and instructional approach that simultaneously
develops problem solving strategies, disciplinary knowledge bases, and skills.
Project-based
Learning - a curriculum development approach that centers on projects, in-depth
investigations of a topic worth learning more about. The key feature of a project
is that it is a research effort deliberately focused on finding answers to questions
about a topic posed either by the students, the teacher, or the teacher working
with the students. The goal of a project is to learn more about the topic rather
than to seek right answers to questions posed by the teacher.
Resource-based
Learning - the achievement of both subject and information literacy objectives
through exposure to and practise with diverse resources.(Stauffer Library, Queen's
University, Kingston, Ontario. What is Resource-Based Learning?)
Scanning - locating specific information quickly and efficiently by moving your eyes
down a page looking for specific facts or key words or phrases
Sentence
Strips - can be ordered from any teacher supply company. They are just the
right length for questions and preclude the teacher from cutting post-it paper
or construction paper (which can also be used) into pieces for questions. The
average size of each strip is 2"x24".
Sitemap - a webpage where all the indidual pages of a website are listed and linked.
Sitemaps can be used to better understand the purpose of a website, and in some
cases, find files more quickly than with traditional navigation.
Skimming - identifying the main ideas of a text by reading first and last paragraphs,
beginning sentences in other paragraphs (topic sentences), and noting other
organizational clues such as title, bold type, italics, capitalized words, captions,
etc.
URL (Uniform
Resource Locator) - unique address of a website on the World Wide Web.
Visual Literacy - the ability, through knowledge of the basic visual elements, to understand
the meaning and components of the image.
This content was orignially created and posted March 5, 2002
These resources were created to support the AT&T/UCLA Initiative for the 21st Century Literacies.
